in a garden Vs. on a pitch

[Siregar]

I am confused about how to use in/on for a small area/place like garden, pitch, field etc. From Practical English Usage (Michael Swan) book, we use on for position on a surface and in for position inside large areas, and in three-dimensional space (when something is surrounded on all sides).

Why do we use in for a garden and on fora pitch?

Thank you in advance,

Siregar

[Dany]

Originally Posted by Siregar

I am confused about how to use in/on for a small area/place like garden, pitch, field etc. From Practical English Usage (Michael Swan) book, we use on for position on a surface and in for position inside large areas, and in three-dimensional space (when something is surrounded on all sides).

Why do we use in for a garden and on fora pitch?

Thank you in advance,

Siregar

Hmm, it's hard to explain but I will try it.

You are in a garden (you are in it. Other examples are: in a house, in a wood etc.)
You are on a pitch (you are on sth. Other examples are: on the roof, on the mountain etc.)

So you are on a pitch but in a stadium.

I hope you understand what I mean.

Best wishes,
Dany

[BobK]

Originally Posted by Dany

Hmm, it's hard to explain but I will try it.

You are in a garden (you are in it. Other examples are: in a house, in a wood etc.)
You are on a pitch (you are on sth. Other examples are: on the roof, on the mountain etc.)

So you are on a pitch but in a stadium.

I hope you understand what I mean.

Best wishes,
Dany

(the pitch/stadium example is very good).

b

[Siregar]

Originally Posted by Dany

Hmm, it's hard to explain but I will try it.

You are in a garden (you are in it. Other examples are: in a house, in a wood etc.)
You are on a pitch (you are on sth. Other examples are: on the roof, on the mountain etc.)

So you are on a pitch but in a stadium.

I hope you understand what I mean.

Best wishes,
Dany

I see! A garden means here like 'a room', not only the grass-field. That's why we use 'in'.

I have thought about this problem for a couple days, but I couldn't find the answer. Thank you very much, Dany.

Warm regards,

Siregar

[BobK]

...And if you look again at Swan, Siregar, you'll see all these examples fit his rule:

2-dimensional: on the lawn, on the pitch, on the shelf
3-dimensional: in the garden, in the stadium

Swan also says 'in for position inside large areas: so 'on the lawn' but 'in the middle of the lawn'

b

[Siregar]

I misunderstood the definition of a garden. I thought, a garden is only the surface of ground covered by grass (it means a garden = 2-dimensional). That's why I kept thinking why we don't use 'on' for a garden.

Your examples especially using 'lawn' for both 'in' and 'on' are excellent.

Thank you BobK for your explanations.

Regards,

Siregar